(The following article by Terry Hillig was posted on the St. Louis Post Dispatch website on October 19.)
ALTON, Ill. — It’s about to get easier to ride the trains from St. Louis to Chicago – and vice-versa.
Illinois Department of Transportation and Amtrak officials came to the Alton Amtrak station on a whistle-stop tour Wednesday to tout two more trains that will begin runs between Chicago and St. Louis on Oct. 30.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Illinois Legislature earlier this year almost doubled state funding for passenger rail service to $24 million from $12.1 million. The money will allow Amtrak to add two trains to the three that already offer daily round-trip service between Chicago and St. Louis, and to support additional service between Chicago and Carbondale and between Chicago and Quincy.
Nearly 1 million passengers used Amtrak lines subsidized by the state in the fiscal year that ended June 30. The numbers were up 12.5 percent from fiscal year 2005 and 40.8 percent from 2004.
The new trains on the Chicago-St. Louis corridor and the existing daily “State House” train, all state-funded, will be known collectively as the Lincoln Service.
Stops on the St. Louis-Chicago corridor are in Alton, Carlinville, Springfield, Lincoln, Normal, Pontiac, Dwight, Joliet and Summit.
The new Amtrak trains will leave St. Louis for Chicago at 6:35 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Those trains will come through Alton at 7:21 a.m. and 6:16 p.m.
“It’s going to be a lot easier to get to Chicago,” said Tom McConahey, 75, of Godfrey, who was on hand to greet the Amtrak “Preview Train” at the Alton station. He takes Amtrak to Chicago occasionally and thinks it will be good “not having to get up at a terrible time in the morning.” McConahey’s reference was to the first northbound train, which comes through Alton at 5:21 a.m. now. With the new service, there will be another one two hours later.
Nancy Milton, vice president of marketing communications at the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, said the extra trains were particularly exciting because the Chicago area is the St. Louis area’s biggest tourism market.
“While the majority of leisure visitors to St. Louis still arrive by car, Amtrak adds another choice to their travel planning,” she said. “With the combination of Amtrak and MetroLink light rail, a visitor can have an enjoyable experience in St. Louis without a car.”
Brett Stawar, president of the Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Alton station was the third-busiest one between Chicago and St. Louis. It served about 33,000 people last year.
“What we’re excited about is the added accessibility to our region,” he said.
Tickets for the new service are already on sale. Reservations and tickets are available nationwide at Amtrak stations, Amtrak.com, QuikTrak automated ticket machines or select travel agents or by calling 800-872-7245.